(1) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a network computing cluster providing IT-services (IT=information technology) and to a power autarkic network computing station of the network computing cluster.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The present invention is motivated by an increasing need of, preferably electrical, power. Providing of power to reasonable costs is one of the key challenges we face on our way forward, when fossil fuels come slowly to an end and overcoming atmospheric pollution is essential for mankind due to global warming.
Due to these above mentioned challenges we currently see how electrical utility companies start to adapt their power generation towards regenerative energy sources, so-called green energy sources. In addition new companies and even today's energy “end consumers”, e.g. by setting up photovoltaic units on the roofs of their houses, enter the renewable energy market as power suppliers. Consequently with this change in power generation also power transmission will see a fundamental change in the future. The transmission networks, i.e. the power grid, must be adapted to the inherent decentralized nature of green power generation, i.e. the power generation based on green energy sources. However, this is different to today's transmission network design, which is optimized for centralized power generation approaches based on huge power plants. In the future power production will be likely much more distributed and there will also be a huge variation in capacity between the different kinds of electrical power “plants” ranging from e.g. small photovoltaic or Block-Type Thermal Power Stations installations to huge off-shore wind parks.
There are many issues which come with the introduction of distributed large scale green power production deployments. Some of the most important are:                (i) The network must deal with a large number of, preferably different, power sources for which a prediction of power injection in the power grid by these power sources is difficult. The prediction of power injection can not be done in the way it is possible with today's fully controlled power plants. Therefore keeping the transmission network in a stable state becomes much more challenging.        (ii) Generated power from regenerative energy sources, e.g. green energy sources, is not always available at the location where it is needed. One example in Germany are wind parks which are mainly installed in the northern part of the country as more wind is available at the coastline. But power consumption is much higher in the southern part of Germany. This requires the transport of power over large distances what comes with high transmission losses.        (iii) It is in the nature of many regenerative energy sources that there can be a huge variation in the amount of generated power. One example is a wind energy plant which can have huge variations in generated power in the middle of a thunderstorm—a state of power over production—and after it died down within minutes—a state of power production producing too less power—to keep the transmission network in a stable state.        (iv) Due to the huge variation in the production of “green” generated power, the power grid operators have to install and/or allocate stand-by electrical power sources from conventional electrical power generators to compensate the delivery variations.        
There are many activities which should help to reduce the impact of adding these new power sources to the transmission network, for instance extending transport capacities in the power grid, switching to DC (DC=direct current) for transmission over long distances, building new “power storages” like pumped-storage power stations. Many technologies are developed which should help to efficiently transport regenerative energy from the location where it is generated to the location where it is used even in cases when there are huge variations of power generation fluctuation in the network. However, a drawback of these approaches can be seen in the issue that any transport of electrical power comes with transmission losses, unfortunately also leading to higher electricity costs. The transmission losses and consequently also the electricity costs are increasing when the need for power is increasing.
It is the object of the present invention to improve the controlling of a network computing cluster.